Shamed doctor from Penmaenmawr hits back at critics

Sep 23 2010 by Eryl Crump, North Wales Weekly News

A DOCTOR who admitted giving terminally ill and elderly patients fatal doses of painkillers to end their suffering says he has nothing to fear from a fresh police investigation.

Police and Crown Prosecution lawyers have yet to decide whether to bring new charges against Howard Martin, following a newspaper admission he ended the lives of some patients.

But Mr Martin, who was dubbed “Dr Death” and has been struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) for professional misconduct, insists he never did anything that wasn’t in the best interests of his patients.

The 76-year-old was cleared at Teeside Crown Court in 2005 of murdering Frank Moss, Harry Gittins and Stanley Weldon.

He now lives in Penmaenmawr and said: “I’m not guilty of anything except looking after my patients, but they [Durham Police] have a vendetta against me.

“It cost them £1.25m last time and cost me two years of health, and personally I’m not expecting more.

“Why should I be fearful of doing my job properly?”

Mr Martin, labelled “arrogant, single-minded” and “reckless” at the GMC hearing, added: “I was in partnership with a doctor and always had to go a second time because he wouldn’t go and give them anything in case he got accused. It’s a fearful situation and somebody has to speak up about it.”

The GMC ruled Mr Martin had hastened the deaths of 18 patients over a 10-year period while at the Jubilee Medical Group in Northumbria.

The Moss, Gittins and Weldon families have all said they want a fresh probe into the former medic’s conduct in light of this summer’s admission.

In June Mr Martin told how he hastened the deaths of two patients without their permission, while he also gave a final injection to his son Paul, 31, when he was dying from cancer in 1988.

But he added he may have brought an early end to the lives of dozens more of his patients.

Durham Police and the CPS in Northumbria said a fresh prosecution is still being assessed.